The Solar System - Word Search - PUZZLE #25 VOYAGER - August 2025

PUZZLE #25 - VOYAGER 

IN-CONTEXT WORD DEFINITIONS

Interstellar: In the Voyager context, interstellar refers to the region beyond the influence of the Sun’s solar wind, known as interstellar space. Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to enter this region in 2012, followed by Voyager 2 in 2018.

Golden: Each Voyager spacecraft carries a Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disc containing sounds, music, images, and greetings from Earth. It was created to communicate the story of our planet to any intelligent extraterrestrial life that might find it.

Grand Tour: The Grand Tour was the ambitious mission plan that took advantage of a rare planetary alignment to allow the Voyagers to fly by multiple outer planets using gravity assists. Voyager 2 visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — the only spacecraft to do so.

Instruments: The Voyager spacecraft were equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, including cameras, magnetometers, plasma detectors, and cosmic ray sensors. These instruments collected data about planets, moons, magnetic fields, and the interstellar environment.

Heliopause: The heliopause is the boundary where the solar wind stops and the interstellar medium begins. It marks the edge of the Sun’s influence, and both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have crossed it, entering interstellar space.

Termination Shock: This is the point in the solar system where the solar wind slows dramatically due to pressure from the interstellar medium. It marks the beginning of the heliosheath, and both Voyager spacecraft passed through this region in the 2000s.

Van Allen: The Van Allen radiation belts are zones of charged particles trapped by Earth’s magnetic field. Voyager helped confirm and expand knowledge of these belts during its flyby of Earth and Jupiter, providing data on similar magnetic environments around other planets.

Geophysics: In the Voyager mission, geophysics refers to the study of planetary bodies (like moons and planets) using data on magnetic fields, geology, atmospheres, and internal structures — all gathered through remote sensing instruments aboard the spacecraft.

Signals: Voyager continuously sends radio signals back to Earth, carrying scientific data from deep space. These signals travel billions of miles and are received by NASA’s Deep Space Network. They also include telemetry that monitors the health of the spacecraft.

Secret Word: The University of Iowa was instrumental in designing and operating some of the Voyager instruments, particularly those related to plasma wave and radio wave detection. Notably, physicist Dr. Donald Gurnett led Iowa’s involvement with Voyager’s plasma wave instruments.